S.O.C. honors area football teams, players and coaches

Save Our Children, Children In Motion Inc., held the area’s first ever high school football appreciation dinner Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Port Arthur Civic Center. Eight teams were honored, which included Beaumont’s West Brook and Ozen, Port Arthur Memorial, Vidor, Kelly, Nederland, East Chambers and Port Neches-Groves, which was given the Honor, Pride and Tradition Award.

“I want to thank everyone that was involved, including all the sponsors,” said S.O.C. CEO the Rev. J.D. Roberts. “It was a great event, which was an example of unity on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. These great young men had an excellent season and deserved to be honored.”

Player from each team were given trophies for Offensive MVP, Defensive MVP, Special Teams MVP and Overall Team MVP.

Honored from West Brook were Josh Stump (Offense, Special Teams), Caleb Bluiett (Defense) and Jalen Malone (Overall Team MVP).

Of the eight Overall Team MVPs, Port Arthur Memorial’s Terrance Singleton was named Top MVP. The senior quarterback threw for 2,571 yards with 21 touchdowns and ran for another 1,615 yards and 22 scores while being named the Class 5A first team all-state quarterback. He is committed to Baylor.

Up to seven of these players will also receive a scholarship at the end of the school year.

Judge Bob Wortham and Lamar head football coach Ray Woodard were the keynote speakers.

MMA

Two MMA events will be coming to the area beginning with Sovereign Valor on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, La. It’s Team USA vs. Team Japan with four fights in the professional ranks. The honorary team captain for Team USA will be current UFC fighter “Crazy” Tim Creduer. The honorary team captain for Team Japan will be “Mr. Japan” Ken Yasuda. Ticket prices range from $200-$30. I’ll have more information on this event next week.

Texas Rage in the Cage Amateur Association returns to the Beaumont Civic Center for Cage Rage 13 on Friday, March 2. Ticket information and the fight card will soon be released.

For the next three weeks, the UFC can be found on television including this Friday, Jan. 20, as the company presents “UFC on FX 1” beginning at 8 p.m. on FX.